The Old Lie

The Old Lie

Chapter:

(p.47)
3 The Old Lie

Source:

Proof through the Night

Author(s):

Glenn Watkins

Publisher:

University of California Press

DOI:10.1525/california/9780520231580.003.0004

Just as the call to arms in 1914 triggered a search for national identity and increased the pull of patriotism, so it soon became clear that not all the voices of caution and dissent could be silenced. In light of the negative reception given Romain Rolland's much milder questioning of the motives of those who wage war, it is not surprising that no major composer in any country undertook to complete and produce an opera that overtly advertised such a sentiment while the Great War was under way. Philosophers and statesmen have argued from time immemorial that a lie is sometimes a necessity when made in the public interest, but the view of war as a noble mission when coupled to sporting adolescent energy has held an appeal bested by few other fictions. This accounting of war, known as the “Old Lie,” provided an expedient point of departure for a satirical anti-war opera composed by the self-taught Havergal Brian, an idiosyncratic composer and devotee of Edward Elgar.

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